KINEMATIC AND KINETIC PARAMETERS OF HEALTHY ELDERLY PEOPLE

Abstract

Walking is one of the most common human movements. It is to transport the body safely and efficiently across ground level, uphill or downhill. Walking is learned during the first year of life and reaches maturity around the age of 7 and remains at the same level until 60. In the elderly age walking performance starts to decline and it slows down gradually. With the increased life expectancy of the elderly and their more active lifestyle, there is now an emphasis on determining any changes that occur in their gait patterns in order to indentify diagnostic measures that are usable for monitoring the rehabilitation process after endoprothesis implantation. The aim of this study is to determine how selected gait parameters may change as a result of aging. A total of 21 healthy, elderly subjects without any history of lower extremity joint pathology were investigated at self-selected pace. The gait analysis equipment used consisted of an infinitely adjustable treadmill with force-plates and ultrasound-based motion analyser. Spatio-temporal, kinematic, kinetic parameters were recorded for the lower extremities. The results obtained from the lower limb were compared on both sides as well as with those of 50 healthy young individuals collected from our database. The elderly had significantly shorter step length and wider step width compared to results of a young control group. Our results showed that the aged individuals demostrated statistically less range of motion in the different joints during walking. We suggested that neurophysiological changes associated with aging might result in less certainty of the neuromuscular system in selecting a stable gait.